Railway-tie and rail-fastener.



A. E. THOMPSON.

RAILWAY TIB AND RAUJ PASTENBR.

APPLICATION FLED E`El.fS,1914.v

Patented May 19, 1914.

.ALBERT E. THOMPSON, or Annone, oHIo.

' ARAIITAY-'ILIL'IQ AND R-AIL-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 6, 1914.V Serial N o. 816,867.

Patented May 19, 1914.

To all ttf/wm 'z'tmag/ concern,

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. TnoMrsoN, a citizen ofthe United States, residing lat- Aurora, in the county of Portage and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Railway-Tie and Rail-Fastener, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates'to improvements in railway vtics and more particularly to d e vices for fastening railway rails to the tics.

The objects of the invention are, to generally improve railway ties and rail `fastoners, and to provide a fasteningl device for vthe rails which will he simple and easily made, easily applied by unskilled workmen,

- strong, durable and capable of frequent fastening and unfastening of the rail without permanent injury to the tie and at comparativeliVY small expense. These objects, tol gether with other objects, apparent. to those skilled in the art, may be attained by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, although the invention may be embodied in other forms, the construction illustrated being chosen by wayof example.

ln the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of one cud of a vrailway tie embodyingT my invention and showing a rail in dotted lilies fastened to said tie. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal, vertical section through the tie, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the expansionspikes. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the expansible member of said spike, the expanding member being removed. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the expanding member. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the expansion-spike sockets. Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional View of one of the expansion sockets with an expansion-spike arranged therein and a portion of the base flange of a rail shown in dotted lines, the expansion-spike not having been driven down or expanded. Fig. 8 Vis a similar view of the salne elements showing the spike in driven or expanded condition.

Throughout the several views similar reference numerals indicate similar parts.

More specifically describing the construetion disclosed in the said drawings, the numeral l indicates the concrete body of the tie provided with the spaced, reinforcing rods 2 of any desired form.

The numeral 3 indicates, generally, the expansion sockets, at least one of which l tion 5 'constructed and the length of the tie being determined by the gage of the railway. It wlll also be understood that the vtie may be made of any shape desired and that more than 011e of the'expansion socketsjmay bel arranged upon each side ofthe rail, as desired.

Each' socket is preferably formed of metal and is provided with `a central barrel poryprovided with two spaced circular flanges 6. In the drawings I have shown these flanges provided with the reinforcing rod apertures 7 adapted to receive the ends of the rods 2, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The top face of the barrel portion 5 is preferably arranged flush with the top surface of the tie and a vertically disposed spike aperture 8 extends through the top face into the bodyof the barrel portion for a considerable proportion of its length, there being sufficient solid body of the barrel portion remaining beyond the bottom -of said aperture 8, however, so as to constitute a substantial bottom or head against which the expansion spike may be driven, as hereinafter described. It should be noted that the spike aperture 8 at its upper end is square in cross section, but that two of the walls of said aperture diverge from each other, from the top to the bottom of the aperture, so that said aperture is wider at the bottom in the direction transverseto the length of the tie, while maintaining a uniform width from top to bottom in the direction of the length of the'tie. In the case of concrete ties provided with the expansion sockets described the flanges serve to very thoroughly anchor the sockets to the ties and in all cases said sockets should be carefully arranged so as to have the divergent Walls disposed, as above described, so as to properly receive and accommodate the expansion spike.

The expansible member of the expansion spike is preferably formed of iron,-steel or other suitable metal, and is provided with a head 9 shaped in accordance with the requirements, the drawings showing a head of the well known railway spike construction. Extending down for a short distance from the head 9 is the integral stem portion l0 which is preferably square in c ross section and adapted to closely fit within the Aupper portion of the aperture 8 1n the ex pansion socket. l `o1n1edintegrally with the stem portion 10 is the downwardly extending bituvcated portion l1 constituting the cxpausible portion of the expansible member. The bifurcated portion is produced by a wedge shaped cleft 12 wider at t-he lower end than at the upper end and terminating at. the upper end in the cylindrical or barrel shaped recess 13. Adjacent the extreme lower end of the expansible member the cleft 12 is provided with thebulbous recess 1i delined at its bottom end by the inwardly projecting ledges 15 provided on their under-sides with inclined faces at 16. -It should be noted that the cleft 12 extends through the expansible member in the direction of the length of the head 9, so that the two parts of the bifurcated portion may expand laterally with reference to the longitudinal, median, vertical plane of said head. The expanding member, which is most clearly illustrated in perspective in Fig. 5, is preferably formed of a softer metal, such as lead, and is provided with a wedge portion 17, head 18 and bulbous portion 19 adapted to conform to and be received into the cleft 12, recess 13 and bulbous recess 14, respectively. Formed integrally with the bulbous portion 19, however, and connected thereto by the neck 20, adapted to lie between the ledges 15, is the head 21, the upper surfaces 22 of which lie against the inclined faces at 16, the body of said head 21 being of the same cross section as the stem portion 1() of the expansible member.

In fastening the rail to the tie the flange 4f is arranged with its edge -in line with the edge of the aperture 8 and the expansion spike isl then inserted into said aperture with the head 9 overlying said flange, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The spike is y then driven down by vertical blows upon the vsa head 9, thus driving the metal of the head 21 upwardly between the ledges 15 into the bulbous recess 14 of the bifurcated portion of the expansible member. The inclined faces at 16 serve to direct the metal of the head 21 inwardly and to move the two parts of the bifurcated portion outwardly into engagement with the two divergent walls of the aperture S. In accordance with the predetermined location of the head 9 with reference to the upper face of the socket 3 when the spike is fully driven the head 21 may be made longer or shorter, there being no necessity, however, for having a variety of lengths of cxpansible members. AAccordingly, when the proper length of head 21 is used and the spike .has been driven down to the point desired, the members will assume the fully expanded position, illustrated in Fig. 8, whereby a firm and substantial fastening will be produced. It will be noted that any side strain on the rail will be firmly resisted by the fastening because of the fact that the parts of the bifurcated portion are held from side to side .of the aperture 8 in the direction of such transverse strain.

When desired the expanded spike may be forcibly withdrawn from the socket 3 by the application of sulieiently powerful pulling force exerted upwardly upon the head 9. In order to be withdrawn the metal of the expanding member must be forced downwardly out of the bulbous recess 14 by the inward pressure upon the bifurcated portions of the expanding member. It will therefore be understood how firmly the spike will resist extraction, although such extract-ion I have found to be perfectly practif cable by the application of sufficient force intelligently applied. In some instances such extraction may so injure the expanding member as to render` the same unfit for further use until recast, but the expansible member remains uninjured and, when provided with an appropriate expanding member maybe used again with perfect success.

It should be here noted that the inwardly projecting ledges 15 are of extreme importance in firmly grasping the expanding member during the process of extraction so that both the expansible and expanding members may be removed together, leaving the aperture 8 entirely `free to receive 100 another or the same expansion spike when it is desired to again fasten the rail.

Although the drawings and above specification disclose the best mode in which I have contemplated embodying my invention, 105 and one of the many practicable applications thereof, I desire to be not limited to tlev details of such disclosure nor to the exact application of the principles of the invention set forth, for lnany changes in 110 form and construction may be made, as circumstances require or experience suggests, and many other applications of the principles of my invention may hereafter appear practicable, without departing from 115 the spirit of the invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. A fastening device comprising, in combination, a fixed member provided with an 120 inwardly expanded aperture having an inner end wall, a fastening member adapted for insertion into said aperture and provided at its inner end with a. furcated portion and an expanding portion adapted to be driven 125 against said end wall and to expand between v the separated members of said furcated portion, whereby to cause said separated members to engage the lateral walls of said' expanded aperture and resist extraction.

2. A fastening device comprising, in combination, a fixed member provided with an inwardly expanded aperture, having an inner end wall, a fastening member formed of a relatively hard expansible portion and a relatively soft expanding portion, saidexpansble portion furcated at its inner end and said expanding portion arranged between the spaced members of said furcatedl portion and extending beyond the inner end thereof, said expanding member adapted to be driven against said end Wall and produce expansion of said expansible portion, whereby to resist extraction.

3. In an expansion fastening device, an expanding member comprising a furcated expansible portion formed of relatively hard material and an expanding portion arranged between the furcations thereof and extending beyond the same, said expanding portion formed of relatively soft material and adapted, when expanded, to distend said furcations.

4. In an expansion fastening device, an expanding member comprising a fin-cated expansible portion formed of relatively hard material, the ends of said turcations being inwardly inclined and an expanding meinber formed of relatively soft material, arranged between said furcations, and having a head portion extending beyond the said inclined ends, whereby said expanding member may be driven into a position between said `furcations, said inclined ends being adapted to lead the material comprising said head into a position between 'said furcations in the expansion of said expansible member.

5. A fastening device comprising, in combination, a fixed member provided with an inwardly expanded aperture,l1aving aninner end Wall, a fastening member fol-'med of a relatively hard expansible portion and a relatively soft expanding portion, said expansible portion furcated and provided with inwardly extending ledges, said expanding portion located between said furcations and extending beyond the ends thereof, said expanding portion adapted to be driven into position between said furcations whereby to expand the same to engage the walls of said expanded aperture to resist extract-ion and said ledges adapted to engage said expanding portion to retain the same in connection with said expanding portion during the process of forcible extraction.

6. A fastening device comprising, in combination, a fixed member provided with an inwardly expanded aperture having an inner end Wall, and a fastening member formed of a. relatively hard expansible portion provided with a Wedge-shaped cleft opening through the bottom end of said expansible portion,l and a relatively soft expanding portion adapted to fit within said cleft and provided with an integral head extending beyond the lower end of said expansible portion, said fastening member adapted to be inserted into the expanded aperture of said fixed member and said expanding portion adapted to engage said end wall and to be forced upwardly within said cleft when said fastening member is driven downwardly against said end Wall. l

7.A device of the character described comprising, in combination with areinforced conc-rete tie, a rail fastening device comprising,- in combination, a fixed member of'relatively hard material adapted to be embedded in the concrete body of said tie and connected to the reinforcing members thereof, said iixed member provided with an inwardly expanded aperture having an inner end Wall, and a fastening member formed of a relatively hard expansible portion and a relatively soft expanding port-ion connected to each other, said expanding portion adapted to engage said end Wall, when said fastening member is inserted in said expanded aperture, and said expanding portion adapted to expand said expansible portion when said fastening member is driven forcibly against said end wall.

In testimony that I claim the above, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT E. THOMPSON. Y

-" Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. MILLER, HAzEL OWEN. 

